Indianapolis Colts: Loss of Bruce Arians Can't Be Overlooked

By Andrew Fisher

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The Indianapolis Colts were one of the best stories of 2012. Coming into the season, there were little-to-no expectations for the Colts. They were a team that everybody thought was rebuilding, but that wasn’t the case at all.

Their on-field accomplishments were remarkable, but they’re even greater when you consider that head coach Chuck Pagano missed a large portion of the season to battle cancer. The man who held it all together in his absence was offensive coordinator Bruce Arians.

For his efforts, Arians was voted coach of the year, something that’s just truly astounding when you stop and think about it. So with all of his success, Arians of course moved on to coach the Arizona Cardinals, and the Colts were left looking for his replacement. They found that replacement in the form of Andrew Luck‘s former OC at Stanford, Pep Hamilton.

Stanford is a program that’s had a lot of success over the last several years, and Hamilton no doubt deserves credit for part of that success. Clearly, you would also think that Luck signed off on him, because why else would they bring in a guy that they knew he didn’t like?

Hamilton is probably more than capable of leading the Colts’ offense, but I still think it’s fair to wonder if the team is taking a slight step back. This will be Hamilton’s first coordinator gig in the pros, and there has to be a learning curve that goes along with his new position.

But even if Hamilton picks up the pro game just fine, the Colts are still going to miss Arians. He’s now proven that he has one of the best offensive minds in the game, and losing him is not going to make the Indianapolis offense any better this season. Don’t be shocked if it takes the Colts several games to get things going offensively during the first several games of 2013.